CAIRO
Egyptian authorities on Sunday carried out the death sentence against six people convicted of joining a "terrorist organization," a security source has said.
"On Sunday morning, the death sentence was carried out against six terrorist elements arrested during a raid on a location belonging to Ansar Beit al-Maqdis group in the village of Arab Sharkas in the northern province of Qalioubiya," a security source, requesting anonymity, told Anadolu Agency.
In March, Egypt's High Military Court upheld a preliminary capital punishment verdict issued in October against seven people accused of belonging to Ansar Beit al-Maqdis over charges of blowing up a military checkpoint north of Cairo last year.
The seven suspects were sentenced to death for attacking the Mostord checkpoint north of Cairo on March 15 of 2014, which led to the death of six soldiers.
"The seventh convict in the case was tried in absentia and is not in police custody," the source said.
Active in northern Sinai, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis militant group changed its name into Welayet Sinai [Province of Sinai] after reportedly swearing allegiance to Daesh, which last year seized control of vast swathes of territory in both Iraq and Syria.
The group has claimed responsibility for several attacks against Egyptian police and army personnel in the peninsula in recent months.
